The Eternity Cure (13 page)

“Well, you won’t be the one teaching me.” I sheathed my sword and turned away, still bristling from having him that close. Sadistic, obnoxious vampire. He got under my skin sometimes, but that was probably what he wanted, to keep me off balance, on edge. A sick game he liked to play.

“Or maybe,” Jackal added, “you’re just feeling sluggish because you didn’t sleep well. Bad dreams?” When I looked at him sharply, he nodded, serious for once. “You saw him, too, didn’t you? The old bastard is still hanging on.”

“Yeah.” I let myself feel that tiny sliver of hope, of relief. “He’s still alive.”

“Yep. Looks like Sarren brought him out of hibernation after all. Tough old geezer—some of us never come out of it.”

“Any idea where he could be? It looked like he was underground somewhere, maybe a prison or a…”

I trailed off, frowning. Jackal started to reply, but I held up my hand, stopping him. Soft shuffling noises drifted to me across the room, coming from outside the barred door. I jerked my head at the entrance just as the handle turned and the door shook, as if something was trying to force its way inside.

Silently, I readied my sword, and Jackal picked up a rusty lead pipe from the floor, not bothering to return to wherever he had slept for his ax. At my nod, he glided up the steps and put his hand under the bar, looking back at me. I inched up, raising my sword, and nodded for him to open it.

Jackal wrenched off the bar and threw open the door. I lunged forward, sweeping my blade down, expecting to see a bloody-faced lunatic on the other side.

Something yelped and threw itself backward, and I pulled my blow up short, barely stopping in time. The body landed in an ungainly sprawl on the floor, a ragged human with shaggy brown hair and huge dark eyes. I felt a brief, faint stab of recognition, like I should know him from somewhere, but I couldn’t place it. He gaped at us, fear and horror spreading across his face, before he scrambled away like a thin, ragged spider, arms and legs pumping frantically.

Jackal lunged past me, grabbed the kid by his ragged shirt and hauled him off his feet. “Where do you think you’re going, little rat?” He yanked him back into the room. The kid howled, flailing wildly, and Jackal shook him once, hard enough that his head jerked back on his neck. “Hey now. None of that god-awful screeching. You’ll attract the crazies wandering around out there. Wouldn’t want to have to rip your tongue out through your teeth, would we?”

“Jackal,” I snapped, closing the door and stalking back into the room. “Let him go.”

He gave me a bored look, then dropped the gasping human unceremoniously on the floor. The kid, probably no more than thirteen, if I had to guess, scuttled backward until he hit a wall, then continued to gape at us with huge, terrified eyes.

“Take it easy,” I said, stepping toward him slowly, ignoring the sudden flare of Hunger. The demon within growled impatiently, urging me to pounce on this boy and feed, but I forced it back. I recognized the skinny frame, the rags, the way his eyes darted everywhere, looking for a way out. He was an Unregistered. Just like I had been.

“Relax,” I told him again, trying to sound calm and reasonable. “We’re not going to hurt you, or…eat you. Just calm down.”

“Oh, shit!” he panted, pressing himself to the corner, his gaze riveted on me. “It’s true, then! That kid wasn’t lying. You’re
her!
You really did become a vampire!”

I stared at him. “How did you—?”

It hit me then, where I knew this boy from. He wasn’t just a random street rat, he was part of Kyle’s gang, a group of rival Unregistereds who had lived within our sector and scavenged the same territories. I’d seen him in passing a few times when I’d been human; the Unregistered gangs of the Fringe did not mingle and usually left each other alone. We weren’t enemies, exactly. We’d warn other Unregistereds of sweeps and patrols, and if another group was scavenging a particular territory, we’d avoid that section for a day or two. But in our section of the Fringe, Kyle’s gang had been our biggest competition for food and resources, and the truce between us had been tense in those final few days.

Of course, they must’ve been thrilled when they heard we were all killed by rabids. Myself included. Even if I didn’t truly die, I could no longer be a part of that world. Their competition was gone. None of us had made it back to the city alive.

Except for one.

“Stick,” I whispered, and stepped forward, advancing on the human. He cringed, looking terrified, but I didn’t care anymore. “That kid you’re talking about,” I demanded, “was his name Stick? What happened to him? Is he still around?”

Is he still alive?

“That little pisswad?” The boy curled his lip, pure disgust filtering through the terror for a moment. “Nah, he’s not around here anymore. He’s gone. No one’s seen him since the night you attacked our hideout.”

I wasn’t attacking your hideout,
I wanted to say.
I was just looking for Stick
. But I knew the human wouldn’t believe me. And besides, it didn’t matter now. Stick was gone. The boy I’d looked after nearly half my life, the person I’d thought was my friend when I was human, had sold me out to the Prince when he’d discovered what I was. Kanin had cautioned me not to go after him, not to see him again, but I’d ignored his warnings and tried to contact my sole remaining crew member one last time.

I really should’ve known better. Stick had taken one look at what I was, screamed in terror and run away. Straight to the Prince and his followers, apparently. As if all our years of friendship, all those times I’d risked my neck for him, kept him safe, kept him fed and alive at my own expense, meant nothing.

I thought I’d buried that pain when I fled the city, but it ached, a dull, nagging throb somewhere deep inside. Still, I couldn’t focus on the past. If this kid was uninfected and sane, maybe there were other humans who had escaped the chaos, too.

“Are there more of you?” Jackal broke in, thinking the same thing, apparently. The kid hesitated, and he added in a perfectly civil tone, “You realize your potential to be useful is the only thing keeping you alive right now, yes?”

“Yeah.” The human spat the word, glaring at us with a mix of fear and hatred. “Yeah, there are more of us. Down in the tunnels beneath the city. We moved there when all the craziness started. The bleeders stay topside, for the most part.”

“So that was what the mole man was talking about,” I mused. “Topsiders coming down into their turf.” I looked at the kid again. “Don’t you have trouble with them? They’re not happy about you pushing into their territory.”

He shrugged. “We can take our chances with the crazies or the cannibals. The mole men clans leave us alone if we’re in a group. And the boss knows the tunnels pretty well, at least, the ones that are clan territory.”

The tunnels. I suddenly remembered that, when I had been here with Kanin, some of the underground passages had led into the Inner City. I’d never seen them of course, never went looking for them, back when I was human. But rumors existed of places where you could creep into the vampires’ territory, as dangerous and suicidal as that was. Back when I became a vampire, Kanin had shown me a way beneath the Inner Wall, through a network of old sewers and subway tunnels, right into the heart of the Inner City. But the underground was a maze, stretching for miles beneath the city streets, thousands of tunnels that all looked the same. Even if we could reach the old hospital, I didn’t think I could retrace the steps Kanin had used to get past the wall. But, that path
did
exist, somewhere.

We couldn’t get into the Inner City through the gates. And traveling the underground seemed a hell of a lot safer than staying topside with the “bleeders.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Jackal muttered behind me.

I nodded. “You said there is someone who knows the way through the tunnels,” I told the kid, who winced, as if he knew what I was going to say next. “Take us to him.”

“Show up with two bloodsuckers?” He went even paler, shaking his head frantically. “No, I can’t! Everyone will freak out. And then they’ll kill me for bringing you there.”

I could feel Jackal’s fanged smile without even seeing it. “Die then, or now, bloodbag. Your choice.”

“Shit.” The kid dragged a hand across his face. “All right, fine. I’ll take you there…if you promise not to kill me after. There are plenty of other humans down there if you get Hungry—suck on one of them, okay? I’ll even point out the stupid, gullible ones. Just don’t eat me.”

Though I didn’t let it show, I felt a flicker of disgust, hypocritical as it was. His answer shouldn’t have surprised me. I’d grown up on the streets with the same attitude, the same survival instincts. In the Fringe, it was everyone for himself. No matter what, you did whatever it took to survive. I knew that. I’d
lived
that.

But then I’d met Zeke and his small group, and everything changed. They’d accepted me, a virtual stranger, as one of their own, no strings, no expectations. With the exception of their hardened leader, they’d looked out for each other, taken care of one another. And the boy whom I’d first thought naive and blind and idealistic must’ve rubbed off on me, because when faced with the choice to leave or risk my life for the group, my survival instincts had gone out the window. And I’d found I actually gave a damn about them all.

It had been a shock to learn there were other ways of living. It had been even more of a shock to know that I could still care, that I was willing to jeopardize my own existence for others. Now we were back in the Fringe, and the philosophy
everyone for himself
still held true. But, at least in my old gang, we hadn’t sold other humans out to the vampires. Until Stick, anyway. It seemed Kyle’s group had no such convictions.

Jackal grinned at me. “Ah, human loyalty. It’s such an inspiring thing, isn’t it, sister? Makes you wonder how we ever came out on top.” He glanced at the Unregistered, who blinked, unaware that he’d just been insulted, and his smile grew wider. “Better hurry, little bloodbag, and lead us to your friends. I’m feeling kinda Hungry now.”

The parking lot had a couple bleeders shambling about, muttering to themselves, but we were able to sneak around them without too much trouble. The scent of fresh blood, streaming from their faces and arms, hung on the breeze like invisible ribbons, rousing the demon within. I didn’t realize I was staring at the back of our guide’s neck until I felt my fangs poking my bottom lip and forced the Hunger down.

“When did this start?” I asked the kid once we were clear of the school. Partly because I was curious and partly to keep myself occupied, to focus on something other than my bloodlust. “The sickness, the craziness. How long has this been going on?”

“Not long.” He glanced over his shoulder, as if surprised I was talking to him like a normal person. “Maybe two weeks, give or take a couple days? I dunno exactly—it’s hard to tell underground.”

“Why hasn’t the Prince done anything?”

“He has.” The kid snorted. “He’s pulled all his pets and guards back into the Inner City and shut the doors on the rest of us. You try to get past the gates, they shoot you on sight. Food trucks have stopped coming, too.” He shrugged, a hopeless, angry gesture. “Guess he’s just waiting for everyone to die out here.”

A human stumbled down the road, dragging a blanket behind him and reeking of blood, and my Hunger stirred restlessly. We waited in the shadows until the human shambled by. “You could get sick up here, too,” I said to our guide after the bleeder lurched around a corner. “You’re not worried about that?” He shrugged again and continued leading us through the streets.

“Not much choice. Like I said, we can take our chances up here with the bleeders, or starve in the tunnels. What would you do, if there was no food anywhere?” He spared me another glance and shook his head. “Guess you don’t understand anymore. Vampires don’t have that problem, do they?”

Oh, I understand more than you think.

We slipped through an overgrown street, where weeds, brush and large trees had cracked pavement and grown up through the ancient husks of cars. The vegetation covering the sidewalk and surrounding buildings was so thick it was like hacking through a forest. The Unregistered kid wove through the tangled undergrowth with an innate familiarity; he’d done this before, and often.

Ducking around the skeletal remains of a van, he stopped and cast a wary look around the shadows before dropping to a crouch in the bushes. Shoving a tire away, he brushed back a clump of weeds, revealing a small, perfectly round hole in the middle of the road. Another entrance to the maze of tunnels that ran beneath New Covington. I wondered how I—or rather, how Allie the Fringer street rat—had missed this one.

The Unregistered kid dug in his grimy pockets and pulled out a tiny flashlight, the beam barely visible as he poked it down the hole and peered around. “Looks like it’s clear,” he muttered, pulling it back out and inching close to the hole, preparing to drop inside. “Wait here a second, I’ll make sure it’s safe, then give you the heads-up when it’s clear.”

“Not so fast.” I reached out and snagged the kid by the shirt, dragging him back. “Don’t think I’m stupid. I was one of you once, remember?” He started to protest, but I shoved him toward Jackal, who grabbed him by the collar. “I’ll head down first, and the two of you can follow.”

The kid looked back at Jackal and paled. “You’re leaving me alone with
him?
”

“He won’t try anything.” I narrowed my eyes at the other vampire. “Right?”

“Me?” Jackal smiled, showing fangs. “I am the epitome of self-control and restraint, sister. Your bleeding heart must be rubbing off on me.”

I rolled my eyes, drew my weapon and dropped into the hole.

My vampire sight adjusted almost instantly to the pitch blackness, showing me an endless concrete tunnel, dripping walls and crumbling bricks. Something small and furry skittered up a pipe and vanished into a crack, but other than that, the sewers were empty and still.

“Clear,” I called back, sheathing my katana.

The kid dropped quite suddenly from the opening, as if he’d been shoved, and sprawled out on the concrete with a yelp of pain. I scowled and glared at Jackal as he dropped through a moment later, landing lightly and brushing off his sleeves.